Two weeks after a Silverdale Detention Center inmate told a Hamilton County Criminal Court judge that he wasn’t always receiving his prescribed daily medication and had to “cause a scene” at least twice in order to get it, the judge issued an order allowing the man to finish his sentence on house arrest.
Chattanooga attorney Chad Wilson has been fighting to have his client Tommie Lyons’ one-year jail sentence amended, saying Lyons contracted COVID-19 in Hamilton County custody and had not been receiving his prescribed daily medication and weekly blood work for a potentially deadly pre-existing condition that has left Lyons immunocompromised.
After multiple hearings, Criminal Court Judge Don Poole found that it did appear that Lyons had “missed his medication on many occasions and his blood test was only taken the day before he came to court on the second occasion” while under the care of CoreCivic, the private company that operated Silverdale.
The company has since ended its contract with the county, meaning operational control of the facility has returned to the sheriff’s office as of this year. That is why Poole has held multiple hearings – to ensure Lyons didn’t see a lapse in care during the transition.
CoreCivic spokesperson Ryan Gustin said the company couldn’t comment on specific cases, citing federal health care privacy laws. But he did say, “We take very seriously our responsibility to care for the individuals in our facilities, and we work hard to ensure those entrusted to our care are treated respectfully and humanely. We had robust policies and practices in place at Silverdale Detention Center designed to ensure that all patients received medication as ordered by their physician.”